Mountain Province Diamonds announces production and sales results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2024 from the Gahcho Kué Diamond Mine. Q2 2024 production key takeaways say, 1,318,680 carats recovered, 2% less than last year’s comparable quarter (Q2 2023: 1,339,196 carats). Average grade of 1.37 carats per tonne, a 24% difference relative to Q2 2023 (1.79 carats per tonne).
Q2 2024 Sales Results during the Quarter 557,361 carats were sold for total proceeds of $56.8 million (US$41.5 million), resulting in an average price of $102 per carat (US$74 per carat). These results compare to Q2 2023 when 360,308 carats were sold for total proceeds of $59.9 million (US$44.6 million), resulting in an average price of $166 per carat (US$124 per carat).
Mark Wall, the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Q2 2024’s carats recovered is largely unchanged compared to Q2 2023. The processing plant continued to perform well, with tonnes treated up 29% compared to Q2 2023.
The good performance of the plant was offset by a lower grade in the Quarter. Lower grade had been expected as per the mine plan in Q2 2024, however, as noted previously, we have also seen a lower than expected grade at the deep portions of the pits, continue through the Quarter.
The team has been working on identifying and isolating the small area of grade under performance and as stated previously, this will improve as we move through the year. The diamond market continues to be softer than anticipated. At a macro level the return of demand in China has not materialized so far and the market is now expecting a more protracted U-shaped recovery in diamond demand.
On the synthetic market, the Quarter saw De Beers’ CEO, Al Cook announce it was pivoting to manufacture lab-grown diamonds for industrial uses and focusing its jewelry marketing efforts behind natural mined diamonds. We are also seeing a resurgence in US jewellers’ interest in natural diamonds. The importance of diamond provenance continued to strengthen, which is helpful for Canadian diamond producers like Mountain Province.”
